Chocolate Drop Cookies (2024)

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February 20, 2019 Updated July 7, 2023 30 Comments

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Old-fashioned Chocolate Drop Cookies are soft cake-like cookies with a swirl of chocolate cream cheese icing. A generational cookie that bakes up perfectly every time.

Can you handle one more cookie post?

It’s really hard to mess these cookies up but I’d like to share a few helpful tips.

Read through the directions before beginning to mix. Follow the step-by-step instructions.
Use real butter that has been softened to where a fingerprint leaves an indentation. Butter should not be room temp that’s too soft.
Drop by heaping tablespoons or use an ice cream scoop for perfectly shaped cookies
Don’t over-mix.
Do not overbake. Check the cookies after 10 minutes of baking. Press your fingertip into the top of the cookie, if it springs back, remove the cookies from the oven.
Cool cookies completely before icing them.
Soften butter and cream cheese for the icing.
If freezing the cookies, place them on a baking sheet in a single layer. Place in freezer. When completely frozen transfer to a freezer container. Freeze for up to 2 weeks.

Chocolate Drop Cookies

Gather ingredients for Chocolate Drop Cookies. Soften butter.
Preheat oven to 400℉. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together. Set aside. Line baking sheets with parchment or very lightly greased baking sheets.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and cocoa until smooth.
Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
Stir in sour cream and milk. Mix until smooth.
Add flour one cup at a time and beat until smooth after each addition. The batter will look like a very thick cake batter.
Measure dough using an ice cream scoop or a heaping tablespoon and drop onto the prepared baking sheet. Leaving 2 inches of space between each cookie.
Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed.
Chocolate Icing

Chocolate Icing

Gather ingredients for chocolate icing. Bring butter and cream cheese to room temperature.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter, and cream cheese until smooth.
Mix in cocoa and vanilla until smooth.
Slowly add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time mixing after each addition.
Icing should be a very smooth spreading consistency.
Spread about a tablespoon of chocolate icing on top of each cookie.

Chocolate Drop Cookies

Old-fashioned Chocolate Drop Cookies are a soft cake-like cookie with a swirl of chocolate

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Icing 20 minutes

Servings 38 Cookies

Calories 203 kcal

Author Janet Barton

Ingredients

Chocolate Drop Cookies

1cupbutter softened
1 1/2cupssugar
2eggs
2teaspoonsvanilla
1 1/4cupssour cream
1/4cupmilk
2/3cupcocoa powder
3 1/2cupsflour
1teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspoonsalt

Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

1/2cupbutter softened
4oz.cream cheese softened
2teaspoonsvanilla
1/4cupcocoa powder
2 1/2cupspowdered sugar
2tablespoonsmilk

Instructions

Chocolate Drop Cookies

Preheat oven to 400℉. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream and milk. Mix until creamy scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl periodically.
Drop cookie dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet with an ice cream scoop (approximately 2 tablespoons of dough). Bake in a preheated 400℉ degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until the dough springs back after lightly touching. Let cool completely before icing.

Recipe Notes

Read through the directions before beginning to mix. Follow the step-by-step instructions.
Use real butter that has been softened to where a fingerprint leaves an indentation. Butter should not be room temp that's too soft.
Drop by heaping tablespoons or use an ice cream scoop for perfectly shaped cookies
Don't over-mix.
Do not overbake. Check the cookies after 10 minutes of baking. Press your fingertip into the top of the cookie, if it springs back, remove the cookies from the oven.
Cool cookies completely before icing them.
Soften butter and cream cheese for the icing.
If freezing the cookies, place them on a baking sheet in a single layer. Place in freezer. When completely frozen transfer to a freezer container. Freeze for up to 2 weeks.

Nutrition Facts

Chocolate Drop Cookies

Amount Per Serving

Calories 203Calories from Fat 90

% Daily Value*

Fat 10g15%

Saturated Fat 6g30%

Trans Fat 0.3g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5g

Monounsaturated Fat 3g

Cholesterol 36mg12%

Sodium 134mg6%

Potassium 67mg2%

Carbohydrates 26g9%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 16g18%

Protein 2g4%

Vitamin A 328IU7%

Vitamin C 0.1mg0%

Calcium 22mg2%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Note: This recipe was originally published in 2010. It is being republished to add a printable recipe card, nutritional information, and updated photos.

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History of the recipe:

When I was growing up,I had a great Aunt thatwas famous for her chocolate drop cookies. She would make them by the dozens.She would putthem on paper plates which she put into plastic bags with a twist tie then freeze them. Whenever we would go to Henefer to visit my grandparents, we would run down the street to see if Aunt Erma had any baby sheep that needed feeding. We would always leave with a plate full of her chocolate cookies. They were the best. I tried to recreate her recipe for years with no luck. I have had to make some changes to the original recipe to get them to turn out as moist as Aunt Erma’s. I think these are pretty close. These Chocolate Drop Cookies were served at a luncheon after her funeral services. Such sweet memories.

Thank you, Aunt Erma, for creating something so wonderful. We will enjoy your cookies for generations to come. What a great legacy you have left behind.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

Susan Rybczyk says
December 12, 2021 at 11:37 pm
To make these gluten free – which flour would work the best? Thanks!
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  December 13, 2021 at 1:32 am
  I have never tried baking cookies with a gluten-free flour blend, but I have heard that King Arthur Flour or Bob’s Red Mill GF blends work great.
  Reply
Flower says
October 31, 2021 at 5:41 pm
Can i freeze the dough? Also can i make the icing and freeze separately?
Reply
Raelee says
April 22, 2021 at 12:26 am
Do i need tomuse sour cream? i dont have any soir cream and i also dont have any thing to Substitute it with.
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  April 22, 2021 at 1:39 am
  You can substitute the sour cream with 1 1/2 cups of milk. If the dough seems too stiff, add an additional 1/4 cup milk. Some flour will require a little more milk than others. Hopefully you have milk on hand to sub out the sour cream. Let me know if you have success or if you have any more questions.
  Reply
Julie C says
May 2, 2020 at 4:03 pm

Delicious! My husband was searching for a chocolate cookie like his mom used to make when he was a child. this is is! Thank you for sharing!
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  May 5, 2020 at 12:34 pm
  Thank you so much. I’m so happy your husband liked them. They are a tried and true recipe my great-aunt used to make. We just love them.
  Reply
J Ehlers says
April 15, 2020 at 9:10 pm

Really good – they are exactly like the ones I had as a kid. Thank you.
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  April 16, 2020 at 3:30 am
  Thank you. I have fond memories of these cookies from my childhood. They’re the best! Thank you so much.
  Reply
Susan says
August 22, 2019 at 1:17 pm
This is the same recipe my great grandmother, grandmother and mother would use to make whoopie pies. I am from the mennonite/amish area of pennsylvania. I make them for my daughters at christmas time every year with a white icing filling. They freeze great and out of the freezer and 8 seconds in the microwave makes them even better.
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  August 23, 2019 at 1:41 am
  My Great Aunt Erma was famous for these cookies. She, too, would freeze them. She had a plateful of cookies in her freezer for anyone who came to visit. These cookies were served at a luncheon after her funeral. These tried and true recipes never go out of style. They are simply the best. I think white icing is a fun and great idea. Thank you so much for sharing your heritage and history of these wonderful cookies.
  Reply
  - Janet Barton says
    August 23, 2019 at 1:45 am
    Hi Susan, You are right. Pure white cakes use egg whites in a recipe. You can substitute 1 whole egg for 2 egg whites. I would make a test cake to make sure the texture of the cake is texture is the same. Lucky bride. You are a great friend to make a wedding cake.
    Reply
Judy g. says
April 28, 2019 at 11:24 pm

Absolutely the best!!!
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  May 2, 2019 at 9:04 pm
  Thank you so much. I agree 😉
  Reply
Seth says
August 12, 2018 at 5:47 pm
Wow. My mother used to make these for us back inbthe 1980’s…my mother is an excelekt cook/baker and she learned these from her mother. Its an old fashioned cookie, polular in the mIdwest from the EUROPEAN immigrants. Thank you for this receipe, it will make my Day!
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  August 13, 2018 at 12:08 am
  Hi Seth, My ancestors migrated to the U.S. from Europe. Mainly Great Britain. I love all of their “tried and true” recipes. This one is a keeper. I hope you love it!
  Reply
Anonymous says
December 21, 2015 at 10:51 pm
Do the cookies need to be refrigerated if iced and made few days before eating?
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  December 22, 2015 at 4:29 am
  They do not. They do, however, freeze very well for about 2-3 weeks.
  Reply
Sandy Maher-Smith says
February 3, 2014 at 3:19 pm
Hi there and thank you for sharing.
What other cocoa cab you recommend that I don't have to buy in such large quantity ?
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  February 7, 2014 at 3:20 am
  Any cocoa you can find in your local grocery store will work just great.
  Reply
Anonymous says
December 18, 2013 at 10:28 pm
Your recipe makes me VERY happy. I've been in fruitless search of the perfect chocolate drop cookie Of My Youth (as my mother would say). Once upon a time, back in the 1950s in the middle West, my dear mom baked made her yearly (?) batch, lifted the cookies to a rack while still warm, put a bowl of whipped cream to one side, and went somewhere for a few minutes. (Five children will do that to you.) Not long thereafter she found me in the kitchen with whipped cream up to my eyebrows, and made me eat the whole thing. Such cruelty! Each year I've tried a different recipe, hoping to recreate hers– which came from her own dear mother.
Thank you!
Reply
- Janet Barton says
  December 21, 2013 at 6:01 am
  What a fun story. Thank you for sharing. I hope this recipe is close to your mother's.
  Reply
Nisa Homey says
July 20, 2012 at 5:43 am
Janet one quick question…can I substitute plain curd/yogurt with sour cream as this is not available in this part of the world….Aunt Erma rocks!!
Reply
- Janet@simplysogood says
  July 20, 2012 at 4:06 pm
  Yes you can substitute. I would use whole milk yogurt not non-fat. The fat helps create a moist crumb. This should work just great. Good luck. Let me know how your cookies turn out. Yes, Aunt Erma does rock!
  Reply
Janet@simplysogood says
December 7, 2011 at 4:11 pm
You should get about 3 dozen…at least the size I make them.
Reply
MM says
December 5, 2011 at 8:03 pm
How many cookies does this make? (Planning for a cookie exchange).
Reply
Mayzie says
August 7, 2011 at 6:24 pm
holy cow that is some good batter!! I hope I have a little will-power so at SOME of them will turn into cookies! Thanks for sharing this recipe! ~nom~nom~
Reply
Janet says
April 9, 2010 at 10:14 pm
I find myself using unsalted butter more and more these days for everything. I feel like I'm eating french butter. It's just sweeter and fresher. No, it really doesn't matter. Just use what you have on hand.
Reply
Steven Barton says
April 9, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Janet, is it important whether we use salted or unsalted butter? You haven't specified, but I notice that your photo shows unsalted butter.
Reply